Programmer Resume Objective - Tips for Writing a Technical Resume

Even before the current economic crisis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was reporting grim statistics: "Employment of computer programmers is expected to decline slowly, decreasing by 4 percent from 2006 to 2016."

What to take away from this? Well, for the job seeker, your programming resume needs to be flawless. But how do you translate that background and those talents onto paper?

First Words: The Resume Objective

Note: not every programming resume requires an objective statement. There's a case to be made for opening the resume with a powerful, 3-4 line profile or career summary which then incorporates three or four bullet points. But objectives remain commonplace, remain useful, and they can be highly effective if written correctly. Written correctly are the key words: the resume objective is where fully half of your competitors blow it. They don't view their objective statement through the eyes of the employer – a critical mistake. Master the objective, and your resume will immediately rise to the top of the stack of resumes on the desk of that hiring official.

Here's What Not To Say

Let's peek at a few examples of objectives from resumes on the bottom of that stack. I'll follow [in brackets] with the reason why they're on the bottom.

1) "To get a challenging job in Computer Programming." [Too general. The candidate is offering nothing to the hiring official other than, perhaps, an indication that he or she is currently bored in his or her daily activities.]

2) "Seeking a position in Computer Programming that could utilize my vast experience in Computer Programming." ["Vast" is meaningless on a resume. Two years might seem "vast" to somebody fresh out of college. At the other extreme, "vast" might seem a legitimate description to the 20-year veteran of the IT department, but not if he's been asleep at the switch for those 20 years and is still working with floppy discs. Hint: let's save the word "vast" for descriptions of a geological nature, as in, "the vast desert plains of Mongolia."]

3) "Programming Position with salary commensurate with my education and experience." [What education and experience? None have been mentioned, yet. Nor is the hiring official likely to take the time to read further to try to identify that education and experience - especially after the issue of money has reared its ugly head in the first sentence. Speaking of which, never never never bring up the issue of money on the resume - first sentence or otherwise.]

Speak To The Needs Of The Employer

Cameron was a client with 6 years experience in programming and systems analysis, but with limited college. Fortunately, he was on top of his game, technologically speaking, and by all accounts was a pleasure to work with. Needless to say, I pushed the "Education" section to the bottom of the resume, and led with an objective statement that tried to speak to the needs of the hiring official. The end result: "A position as a Programmer/Analyst requiring a valued team player with state-of-the-art technical competency, an easy rapport with end-users, and a reputation for delivering results in a variety of client server applications."

In this case, the candidate is offering a tangible set of skills to the hiring official, a skill set which is relevant to the position he's trying to fill. And he's doing so in the resume's opening sentence.

First Impressions Count

And nowhere is a good first impression more important than on a resume. So now, the hiring official has a good first impression of Cameron. What does he do with that good first impression? He keeps reading this young man's resume.

At this stage in the hiring process, that's all we can ask for.

David Alan Carter is a former recruiter and the founder of Resume One of Cincinnati. With an intimate understanding of the value of a well-crafted resume, David reviews and ranks the Web's most popular professional resume writers. (Note: David's "Top 3 Picks" are professional resume services that actually guarantee interviews.)